


Quarians

by orphan_account



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Distopia, Gen, Mirror Universe, asari empire AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-27
Updated: 2013-05-27
Packaged: 2017-12-13 03:05:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/819235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Admirals, like any other authority in galaxy, serve under the Empire.<br/>Zaal'Koris forgets his place.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Quarians

They will be meeting with Tevos that day. It is an occasion. She is not the Quarian’s ambassador, the go to between their people and the Empire. Tevos is much more important, her visit is not to check up on the Quarian Military State, but to size up its leaders. And Xen is the only one who seems to realize it.

She is not an anxious Quarian, not like Shala’Raan or Rael’Zorah. She does not fret. She knows exactly what she must do during the meeting. It is Zaal’Koris who she is worried about. He discusses the meeting beforehand with her.

“And I will press her about the sanctions on trade,” he says, suddenly, in the middle of his rehearsal. She stops short to look at him, expression stunned, inwardly cold.

“You’ll do no such thing.” She tells him before she can consider a different (or better) phrasing.

“And I—“ he almost continues with his thoughts (the insufferable windbag) before he realizes she had interrupted him. “Why won’t I?”

“Tevos is one of the highest seated Asari in the Empire.”

He flusters a moment, making a characteristic sound of disbelief, “And all the more reason for me to bring it up with her.”

“Zaal’Koris.” She says his name as coldly as she feels. It’s a growing chill in her stomach.

“Do you think that anything will be changed pandering to them? To simply hope they will eventually treat us better out of kindness?”

“Admiral.” Xen calls him by title because saying his name might seem too cruel. “The Quarians are in…. comparatively better standing than some of the vassal races of the Empire.” He moves to speak again, and she holds up a hand, a firm barrier between them. “We were allowed to keep our military intact. Many of the Turian army were executed in their streets. Is that what you want for us?” she hates the way she is speaking. She is not a public speaker. She is not a politician. She is a scientist and that is the only way she’s ever been able to think. “Do you want the young Kal’Reegar shot to death on his ship like his parents?” His own hands curl into fists at his sides. She has no doubt that he is angry. She can only hope he will hear her words and see sense. “You are a representative of our citizens. They need you to do what is best for them.”

“I intend to,” he says, and raw ice settles in her.

\---

Xen is not a sociable Quarian but she gets along with Asari well enough. They can’t see her expressions under her helmet so there is no need to fake a smile (Unlike a human, a Batarian or a Salarian would). She simply tells them what they want to hear, and she is very good at guessing that.

She tells Tevos about her work, her designs of machines and weapons for the T’Soni house. She tells them how she develops her prototypes and that sometimes they do not go as planned but that is part of her transparency. It is good to hear the failures as much as the successes because she does not have anything to hide and the dark skinned woman eyes her as if she could see under the suit but then she nods and smiles. She is the one to escort her and her commandos (or rather, her entourage) to the meeting room, where the four other Admirals await.

Rael’Zorah is a nervous wreck. He has always been since his partner (bondmate, as the Asari call it) passed. He fidgets. Keeps his glowing eyes downcast towards the floor, only raising them to speak plaintively to the woman who keeps circling around the room. She’s gauging how everyone reacts. Tevos has had decades to watch Quarians, and Rael is an open book of misery.

She grows bored of him and changes the direction of the talks to include Han’Garrel. He, of course, is a loyalist, a man with the right sort of mindset. He knows that obedience is the best way to avoid death and he reflects that as he describes his upkeep of their military. Their weapons, of course, are within regulations. Just enough to defend their State from pirates and slavers and not enough to be anything but pittances in the face of the Empire’s Turian built armada. She is pleased with him, and she shows it with a silken hand over his armored shoulder. He has the grace not to look uncomfortable.  
Shala’Raan has little to say. She is a mediator, after all. A politician through and through. Most of her work involves the Asari Ambassador. She compliments her in front of Tevos, though the Asari in question doesn’t deserve most of it. But she is like a warm draft in the room, like always, even if it does not reach the black freeze that’s coiling inside her when Tevos turns her attention to Zaal’Koris.

She is interested in him. He manages the civilians, their beloved representative. On a good day, Xen would even venture to say he is the voice of a people.

For all their sakes, she hopes it is not a good day for him.

He starts off normal. He describes the circumstances of the Quarian’s. Their population. The trends in trades. For a glowing moment she hopes he will stop there. Small talk, even, would be preferable. He continues.

He describes the way that the need for repairs are outstripping the supplies to do them. He talks about how lifeships have been having food shortages since the travel restrictions. There are thousands of little grievances and even mote devastating griefs he is privy to and he is letting her know the worst of it.  
“With the way things are now,”  
She wished it would be socially acceptable to toss the man out of the airlock then and there.  
“There is no way for the Quarian States to prosper.”  
Tevos is still smiling, listening to him, her hand still on Han’Gerrel, fingers curled around a piece of his environment suit.  
“We need an ease in the restrictions in order for us to continue to produce technology for the galaxy and the necessary supplies for ourselves.”  
She can’t help but notice what a good politician he is.  
“I have outlined a more reasonable set of regulations that would be mutually agreeable for both the Empire and the States.”

“I think I would like to see them.” Tevos says, cheerily.

Zaal’Koris looks uplifted, almost surprised. He begins to speak, but she places a hand on his arm to guide him towards the door. “Let us discuss it, together,”

He doesn’t look back at them when she leads him out of the room.

Minutes pass in silence. The commandos remain, unspeaking and disregarding them.  
Only Tevos returns to the meeting room. “Zaal’Koris has agreed to join me in returning to Thessia.” Her eyes are darker than usual, deep blues almost looking violet. “We have many things to speak of. It was a pleasure meeting with you all. I, and the Empire, thank you for your time.”

She leaves, and the commandos file out after her.

\---

Forty eight days pass before they see Zaal’Koris again. He does not send messages to the other Admirals, nor to his men who are panicked in his absence. Shala’Raan takes over most of his responsibilities.  
Xen knows why they do not see him. He is still fighting at that point. He’s not fit to be seen in public while he still thrashes and curses in phrases that their translators have neglected to include and no doubt argues with the Asari that pry open his mind. She knows he must argue. She knows that before he stops fighting he will still think they can be reasoned with. His quick tongue had always gotten him out of trouble before. His charm and his reason swayed so many to his side.

On the forty eighth day they see him again on a television brodcast, and he walks along Tevos’ side in a public appearance. The anchors on the TV identify him as the Admiral of the Quarian Military States. They almost say his name correctly.

They see him a few more times after that. He still does not send word but he opens shuttle doors for Tevos and he bows when he meets a Matriarch, like a good citizen should. He cannot kiss their hands so he places his other one on top of theirs as if it is an embrace.

When he returns, sixty five days since he has left, he is still fighting off an infection.

He is much quieter.

He and Xen do not speak of what happened. She knows, already, even if she does not know the lurid details. The way he was stripped down bare in then open until he got sick. The way he was pried open so every secret came crashing out. The way he eventually, after some forty eight days, gave her each of his secrets, gave away every unturned memory and corner of his mind.

They do not speak of it. She had warned him, after all.


End file.
